Dual! What is This Emotion: Love? Part 1 (of 4). Two years after Episode 14, Kazuki still hasn't chosen the love of his life. With their departure from Earth imminent, however, emotions have been laid down on the line. Who will Kazuki choose?

(Author's Note: Because
our host is oh-so accomodating, you will see lines of a single letter,
A. This is to denote a scene change. The original story
used to do this with asteriks, but they do not display here for
some reason or another. In addition, our host will not allow me to
italicize text. Therefore, Zinv's speech will be denoted with a
"Zinv:" in some places to symbolize his telepathic communications with
Kazuki.)

"Kazuki," the soft whisper followed by the jab in his
rib informed the student that his note-passing services were required.
Obediently, he held out his hand and passed the note

"And so, as
you can see, the poet is really a tortured soul, not a madman as his
critics suggest." Yayoi raised her eyes from the aged text. Her sharp
blue eyes focused for the one hundred fifty-eighth time on the occupant
of seat number twenty-six, Kazuki Yotsuga. "Wouldn't you agree," she
asked her prized pupil, adding a slight smile.

Kazuki gulped. Why did she always have to ask him? "Um... I suppose so."

She
nodded, adding, "As such, we should attempt to ease his suffering by
listening to his poetry and not passing notes while it is being read,
yes?"

Kazuki's face reddened. "Uh... Yes ma'am!"

The
rest of the class broke down into the usual assorted giggles and hushed
murmuring. Yayoi, for her part, tried her best to calm the students
down. It had been a very long week and the entire class was looking
forward to the following day off, but she still had a few more poems to
get through before the day off claimed her students.

The soft
chime informed Yayoi that any attempt to continue their education today
was not to be. Sighing, she closed the text and set it down on top of
her desk. "Alright class, make sure you read the assigned pages at
home. There will be a test when you return."

The myriad of
groans caused the teacher to smile. "Now, now. You know that this poor
tortured man would not appreciate your unwillingness to read his work!"

"We know, we know!"

"Good." The teacher bowed to her students, who rose and returned the gesture.

"Dismissed."

The
students quickly shuffled out of the classroom, laughing and chatting
amongst themselves. Kazuki, Mansanari, and Toshihiko met at their
respective lockers as usual, discussing their plans for the next day.
"I've finally found a nearby apartment to move into," Toshihiko stated,
pulling his text from the locker and placing it in his pack.

Kazuki peeked from behind his locker door. "That's great! When do you move in?"

"Tomorrow
morning. My brothers and sisters are going to help me move my things
in. It's not much to look at, but it'll be all mine and besides, it's
much better than sharing my room with four other kids."

Kazuki
could sympathize. The Sanada household seemed to grow in number with
each passing day. First himself, then Dee, then Mitsuki Rara, then
Akane, then Kumu, and now Mr. and Mrs. Rara, whose house had been
destroyed when Zinv decided to make his presence in this world known
quite abruptly almost two years ago. For some reason, they had decided
to take up residence at the Sanada home and had not left since. Dr.
Rara and Dr. Sanada appeared not to mind the arrangement too much; it
merely provided another setting for the scientists to bounce ideas back
and forth on the space project. Sometimes this was quite literal in the
form of wadded blueprints being thrown back and forth at each other,
along with various small jibes.

At times, he wondered if merging
the two worlds was the correct course of action for him and Mitsuki
Sanada to have chosen. Life had seemed so much simpler with the two
worlds separated from one another. Of course, if the worlds were
separate still, he would never be able to see some of his friends in
their current manner.

While Kazuki was pondering this question,
Toshihiko had continued on, "Yeah, now all I have to do is find a wife
to help around the house..."

Kazuki shook his head; his friend's
words snapping him back to reality. "Wife? Aren't you a little young to
be looking for a wife?"

Toshihiko shut his locker and sealed his
bag, throwing it over his right shoulder. "Not at all, my young friend.
My parents were only eighteen when they married and my birthday is
coming soon." The seventeen year-old rubbed his palms together with a
slight grin spreading across his lips. He had obviously been plotting
this for a very long time. "So, do you think Mitsuki would like to hear
about the hot new bachelor pad?"

As Toshihiko spoke, Kazuki and Mansanari visibly paled to an almost blue shade, staring over the speaker's left shoulder.

"Somehow
I doubt it. What kind of self-respecting woman would accept an offer
from someone who just called his one-room shack a 'hot new bachelor
pad'," Mitsuki Sanada asked, rolling her eyes at the younger man's
failed advance.

Mitsuki
sighed and pushed past the obviously embarrassed Toshihiko, grabbing
Kazuki by the jacket. "C'mon, Kazuki. You know Daddy and Dr. Rara
wanted to see you after school."

Kazuki nodded, adding under his breath as he was being dragged down the corridor, "Didn't you graduate last year?"

His question was answered with a prompt slap to the face.

"You
know good and well that I was held back a year because of your
incessant meddling with the Space/Time continuum! Why, if it weren't
for me, you'd probably still be stuck in some unknown universe. Dirty
messy Kazuki, stuck between worlds! You should be thankful that I don't
make you do my school work in payment for all I've done for you!"

Kazuki rubbed his face before putting up a weak defense, "Hey! I was held back too!"

"Umm...
I don't think I'm anyone's boy, to be honest sirs." Kazuki attempted to
pull away from the two doctors, but to no avail.

"Nonsense,
nonsense! Come take a look at these designs!" Sanada dragged Kazuki to
a drawing board and began flipping through sketches. "Here! Now Kazuki,
would you like to cruise through the galaxy in this heap of junk,"
Sanada held up a picture that clearly had 'Rara' signed on the lower
right corner, "Or this fine beauty," Sanada asked, holding up a sketch
that was clearly signed 'Sanada'.

"Heap of junk! Well of course
he's not going to pick it if it's referred to that way! Besides, it's
many times more impressive than your flying soapbox with lasers!" Dr.
Rara, who was bright red with anger, had crossed the room with
surprising agility and was currently in Dr. Sanada's face.

Kazuki
looked at some of the other sketches on the table while the two
continued to argue. He'd learned long ago that the best way to handle
these situations was to let them duel until a victor was declared or at
least until they were too weary to continue.

As he dug through
the stack of papers, he came across one design that was vaguely
familiar. Pondering its layout for a few minutes, he finally realized
that it reminded him of the artifact ship that Dr. Sanada was in
possession of in one of the alternate universes. Pulling it out from
under the other sketches, he held it up between the two feuding
scientists.

"Actually, I like this one."

The two stopped
and looked at the drawing momentarily. In one voice, they both replied
in shock, "You like that one? What's wrong with you, my boy? Your boy?
I thought we'd covered this already! Grrrrrr!"

Sighing, Kazuki
slowly slid out of the basement; the two scientists too busy fighting
to notice his escape. They were making progress, sadly. Another year
and they might have the design candidates down to three.

As he
moved through the house, the luxurious scents from the kitchen assailed
his senses. Following his nose, he floated into the dinning room, not
even noticing Reika, Akane, and Ayuko sipping tea. The three
distinguished ladies grinned from ear to ear as Kazuki drifted past
them; Akane and Reika for his obvious love of the girls' cooking and
Ayuko for her own less than reputable reasons.

Kazuki was
beginning to slide the door to the kitchen open when Akane scolded him.
"Kazuki! It's rude not to address your elders when you enter a room!"

Kazuki,
awakening from his food-induced trance, spun around abruptly. "I'm so
sorry!" He bowed deeply and continued, "It's just the food smelled so
good..."

"That's still not a valid excu--"

"Akane," Reika spoke up for the young man, "Boys will be boys, and he is still a boy..."

Ayuko
chimed in, "Yes, I agree with Reika. I'm sure this charming young man
meant no offense." She added a devious smile towards the young Mr.
Yotsuga, who blushed in return.

Reika and Akane's eyes narrowed;
Akane's because she hated being reprimanded by her older sister and
Reika's because she had the unfortunate luck to be on the same side as
Ayuko.

Ayuko pulled an adjacent chair up to the table. "Come, Kazuki. Sit here next to your Mother Ayuko..."

Reika and Akane startled Kazuki out of his stuttering fit with a combined, "WHAT!"

Ayuko
smiled innocently, waiving off the assailants with her free hand. "It's
nothing more than a term of endearment! You mustn't be so harsh..."

"Endearment!" Akane scowled at Ayuko.

"Harsh!" Reika made an equally fearsome scowl.

Kazuki,
sensing another fight was about to commence, slid out of the dinning
hall. He wondered if there was any way he could eat dinner in his room
for the next two years. Doubting the possibility of this scenario
coming to fruition, he marched up to his room for at least a moment of
peace and quiet before dinner.

As he approached his bedroom
door, he noticed it was already open. He also noticed a muffled growl
and a low voice saying, "No Kumu! Not his pillow! Bad!" Kazuki slowly
opened the door, half afraid of the scene behind it awaiting him.

His
room was in shambles. His books, which Mitsuki had apparently brought
up while he was discussing ship designs with the doctors, were ripped
to shreds and spread all over the room. Dee, for her part, was trying
to herd Kumu out of the room before she could do any more damage.

As
the door opened, Dee visibly paled. She quickly snatched up Kumu and
started bowing her head profusely, sniffling loudly and barely
containing her tears. "I'm so sorry, Kazuki! I was doing my homework
and I thought she was in the room with me still, but she wasn't and
when I went and looked for her, she was in here ripping your room to
pieces. I'm so sorry! I'll clean it all up after dinner, promise!"

Kazuki
entered the room and surveyed the damage. Most of his homework had been
destroyed along with his pillow. As Dee continued to apologize, he
reached over and rested his hand on her shoulder. "It's ok, Dee. We'll
clean it up after dinner together. It's nothing to worry about,
honest!" He added a smile, hoping that she wouldn't start crying over
something so trivial.

Dee looked up at Kazuki, still holding
Kumu, who was growling at the intruder, tightly. Her eyes began to
lighten and a smile slowly tugged at the corner of her lips. "R-Really?"

Kazuki
nodded. "Yep." He wiped away one of the tears streaming down her cheek
and added, "Now go put Kumu in your room and get cleaned up. Dinner
should be ready any minute now."

Dee cheerfully responded, "Ok
Kazuki," and promptly left his room. It was nice to see Dee so happy.
Every time that Kazuki had doubts about this new world, he thought of
her smiling face and how much she'd changed from when he first met her
and would know that he had done the right thing.

Without even
realizing it, Kazuki had begun to blush. He also didn't notice the
entourage standing outside his doorway observing the mess.

Mitsuki
Sanada was the first to speak up, as usual. "What are you blushing
about? And why is your room such a mess? Honestly, I can't leave you
alone for five minutes or you'd ruin this entire house! You're so much
like Daddy it's frightening!"

"B-But it wasn't me! Honest, Mitsuki! Kumu got loose again!"

"Riiight. You can't always blame your poor hygiene and lack of organizational skills on the family pet, Kazuki."

"But I'm telling the truth!"

Yayoi
used the break in yelling to interject, "I apologize for the
inconvenience, but you do realize that I will not accept those
assignments late, Kazuki?"

Kazuki bowed slightly to his teacher
in acknowledgement as Mitsuki rolled her eyes and continued, "And now
you're going to expect me to clean this up after dinner. Well let me
tell you something, Mr. Yotsuga, I'm not your maid! You'll have to
clean this one up yourself!"

The other Mitsuki, who had been
silent up until this point, softly offered, "I'll help you clean up
after dinner if you'd like, Kazuki."

Slowly
looking away from Mitsuki Rara, Mitsuki Sanada returned her glare to
Kazuki. "Anyway, dinner is ready and you need to get down there and eat
it before it gets cold, or, in Yayoi's case, warm." The reference to
Yayoi's sushi had not fallen on deaf ears and Kazuki quickly dropped
the remains of his homework in order to please the assembled mass.

Dee
quickly sprang into Kazuki's room, wrapping around his left arm as she
normally did whenever they were heading in the same direction. Yayoi,
Mitsuki, and Mitsuki all responded in their customary manor: Yayoi and
Ms. Sanada scowled fiercely and Ms. Rah merely looked away and blushed.
Kazuki just tried to avoid eye contact with any of the girls and
laughed nervously. "Well, let's eat!"

Dinner
had transpired about as normal as most meals at the Sanada/Rara
Household occurred. Things started out with Kazuki receiving three
large portions in comparison to everyone else's human-sized one
portion. The three chefs all watched intently as Kazuki spent the
better part of a half- hour trying to decide how he was going to mix
the three totally unique meals so that no one would be offended by his
sampling another's meal before theirs. He finally ended up with a
rather unique-tasting sushi/egg roll/hamburger, which had sadly become
more and more appetizing with each passing minute.

After dinner,
Kazuki and Dee worked on cleaning up his demolished room. Kumu had been
very thorough in ripping up anything she could, including a pair of
underwear Kazuki had lost some time ago that had been hiding behind his
desk. By the time they had finished, half of the house had retired for
the evening. They took turns in the bath, Dee going first, and wished
each other a good evening before going to sleep themselves.

Kazuki
wished he didn't have to spend the morning redoing his homework. At
least he and Dee were able to spend some time together, though. They
rarely got to see each other any more due to their different schools.
That would all change next school year when Kazuki was a senior and Dee
a freshman at the Academy, but that was still some time away.

He
felt at times like he was neglecting her, the one who had helped him in
the end more than any other. The one who had actually sacrificed her
life in order to awaken Zinv's full potential. Perhaps they could go
out for ice cream tomorrow after he went to the main laboratory to
visit Zinv...

Kazuki shot straight out of his bed. He had
totally forgotten about his trip in the morning. If he was going to get
his work done and visit Zinv, he was going to have to pull an
all-nighter and finish his homework!

Sighing heavily, he
muttered to himself, "Why me?" Kazuki turned on the light and opened
his tattered textbook, praying that some miracle would get him out of
this.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Kazuki, wake up." Dee and Mitsuki Rara both gently pushed on either side of him.

"How
many times do I have to tell you? That doesn't work!" Mitsuki Sanada
picked up a stack of books and dropped them on Kazuki's stomach,
causing him to sit up instinctively and push the covers away from him.

The
Mitsukis and Dee all gasped collectively at the sight. Yayoi was curled
up in a ball next to Kazuki and had apparently been there all evening.

Mitsuki
Sanada glowed fiery red with rage, and dropped a couple of books on the
teacher to get her attention. "What... Are... You... DOING? You sick
freak! Get out of Kazuki's bed this instant!"

Kazuki switched into automatic defense mode, shouting as he backed away, "I didn't know she was there! Honest! I swear!"

Mitsuki
Sanada's reply was a simple slap upside Kazuki's head. She immediately
returned her attention to Yayoi, who was rubbing the sleep from her
eyes. "Well?"

Yayoi looked around the room in a dazed fashion,
slowly replying, "I must have sleep-walked here... The last thing I
remember is going to bed in my room across the way," she pointed to her
house, which was conveniently mere meters away from Kazuki's window and
had an odd board between the two houses that would be perfect for
crossing back and forth.

"Sleep-walked? HA! I don't buy that for
an instant! Get back to your house this instant, you hear me!" Mitsuki
opened the window and pointed a finger out of it, her red face becoming
reddish-purple fast.

Yayoi lowered her head and rose, climbing out the window slowly as she muttered, "It worked for Mitsuki..."

Mitsuki Sanada spun around, the fire almost emerging out of her hair. "What did you say?"

Yayoi held her hands up in a defensive posture and smiled innocently. "Not a thing, Mitsuki!"

As
Yayoi's legs exited the windowsill, Mitsuki slammed the window shut and
lowered the blinds. "That ought to keep certain peeping toms from
getting an eye-full. Everyone out!" Mitsuki began forcing the other
occupants of the room out the door, yelling at Kazuki to get dressed
and eat his breakfast.

As he dug through his room looking for an
unused or non-ripped set of clothing, Kazuki wondered if his life was
ever going to settle down. He also wondered what he would do if
suddenly one day it did.

Finally finding a suitable outfit, he
glanced at the blinds one more time before tossing his bedclothes in
the general direction of the clothesbasket.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.